More Australia Casting News - This Time Official!

If you're any sort of movie buff, chances are that you have seen David Wenham in something, even if you might not know his name. He was the black-bobbed Audrey in Moulin Rouge, Carl in Van Helsing and even more famously, the fighting Faramir in The Lord of the Rings. Now, the Australian actor has been grabbed to co-star with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman in Baz Luhrmann's epic ranch drama, Australia.

Lately the film has been involved in a flurry of casting rumors, from Bryan Brown, who was last seen in Along Came Polly, to Jack Thompson, who played Cliegg Lars in Attack of the Clones. However, Australia has finally scored itself an antagonist. Wenham will play a station manager who is eager to grab the ranch, Faraway Downs, away from Nicole Kidman. Meanwhile, she teams up with a cattle driver (Hugh Jackman) to protect it. To up the drama even further, they also find themselves in the Japanese bombing of Darwin, because it all takes place right before World War II.

Considering Wenham's stint in Nick Cave's western, The Proposition, this is spot-on casting. In the film, he played Eden Fletcher, Captain Stanley's slimy boss, who is more concerned with grandoise displays of "justice" than actually finding the right perpetrators. Wenham plays Fletcher in a prissy, creepy manner that makes you want to wipe the slime off after each scene. He'll be a natural as the man hungry for ranching land in Australia.